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17 February 2021

Introducing: Creative Communities Learning Lab

New free online learning for creative and cultural professionals, designed by creative hub leaders from Southeast Asia and the UK.

workshop photo by Reginald Sarmenta

April 2021 will see the launch of brand new digital training that responds to the needs of hub leaders, artists, creative entrepreneurs and cultural professionals all over the world.

The global health crisis has drastically impacted the work of creative and cultural professionals everywhere. Over the past year we have been listening to creative hubs and their communities, and gathered stories of resilience and innovative adaptations from Southeast Asia and the UK.

The Creative Communities Learning Lab will build on these stories and conversations. We are excited to kick start a series of online modules for creative and cultural professionals all around the world. The content will touch on themes such as managing digital communities, new ways to monetise creative work, strategies to develop original innovative online course content for creatives. This is part of our Creative Hubs for Good programme and led by our team in Southeast Asia, but will be freely available for audiences worldwide. 

©Kay Aranzanso

Content launch

Watch this space for the Creative Communities Learning Lab digital launch this April 2021. To get direct updates and invitations on this exciting learning offer, subscribe to our arts newsletters:

You can also find out more about the developments on this project by following these social media tags: #CreativeHubsForGood #CultureConnectsUs

THE PARTNERS

The project is being developed by the British Council in collaboration with a fantastic team of producers - Creative Friction (UK) and Makerspace Manila (PH). 

Additionally, 17 brilliant hub leaders are advising the project team, providing their input and testing the learning content:


Project background

The global escalation of Covid-19 has changed the way we live, learn, communicate and work. For the arts and culture sector, the current crisis has brought on challenges on a global level: from the closing of physical shared spaces, restrictions on live gatherings, limited mobility, a push towards remote working, and the loss of livelihood for many professionals, among others.

In response to the global pandemic, we hosted Communities of a New Future: A series of creative hub conversations in 2020 to explore how different parts of the world have tackled these issues. Through these interactions, we were able to collect insights from creative hub leaders in Southeast Asia and the UK. Some of their needs included the knowledge to digitise programme delivery and new means of engaging and supporting their communities.